Auro: The Changing
of the Guard

At the Michelin Guide California ceremony in San Diego on June 24, 2026, Auro earned its fourth consecutive star — its first under Executive Chef Evan Neumann. No other restaurant in Calistoga holds one. When a kitchen changes leaders at this level, the transition usually shows. This one never did.

The backstory is unusually clean. Rogelio Garcia opened Auro in 2022 and earned its first star eight months later. After he stepped away, Four Seasons took its time choosing a successor — and entrusted the pass to Neumann, who joined in April. Sous chefs Lika Nevarez and Luis Patino held the kitchen steady through the handover; when Neumann arrived, the team built the new menu together, course by course. Confident in the work, the kitchen told the Michelin Guide it had a new leader. The inspectors returned within months. The star remained.

The cooking now has a sharper point of view: contemporary American cuisine built on French technique with a Japanese influence, Napa Valley ingredients leading every plate. The seven-course tasting menu — with wine pairings drawn from a cellar of more than 475 labels — runs from dishes like 10-day dry-aged Japanese Shima Aji to Valencia orange sherbet and cinnamon churros. The monthly Wine Series Dinner pairs seven courses with a different featured winery.

Auro sits within the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Napa Valley, at 400 Silverado Trail in Calistoga. Reservations are essential — and, since June, rather more competitive.

Details verified at time of publication. Photography is illustrative — final features are photographed on location.

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